Book Review: My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 15, 2018
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Winnie Mehta was never really convinced that Raj was her soul mate, but their love was written in the stars. Literally, a pandit predicted Winnie would find the love of her life before her eighteenth birthday, and Raj meets all the qualifications. Which is why Winnie is shocked when she returns from her summer at film camp to find her boyfriend of three years hooking up with Jenny Dickens. As a self-proclaimed Bollywood expert, Winnie knows this is not how her perfect ending is scripted.

Then there’s Dev, a fellow film geek and one of the few people Winnie can count on. Dev is smart and charming, and he challenges Winnie to look beyond her horoscope and find someone she’d pick for herself. But does falling for Dev mean giving up on her prophecy and her chance to live happily ever after? To find her perfect ending, Winnie will need a little bit of help from fate, family, and of course, a Bollywood movie star.

Winnie is a huge Bollywood fan and now her life has turned into a Bollywood rom-com. Her boyfriend of three years has dumped her for another girl. How could he do that to her when he meets all the criteria that a pandit predicted her soul-mate would have? And now she still has to organize her school’s film festival with him. Awkward.

Winnie has a Bollywood movie review blog and each chapter begins with her review of a real-life Bollywood movie. There is also an appendix that lists all of the movies that Winnie refers to throughout the book. I’m looking forward to finding and watching some of the films.

My So-Called Bollywood Life was a cute, young-adult romance. It’s a little predictable but aren’t most teenage romances? It didn’t bother me – I still enjoyed the book and I really liked Dev, the third member of Winnie’s love triangle. I would have loved for him to be my high school boyfriend but he doesn’t appear to fulfill Winnie’s prophecy so she’s not sure about him.

I think most rom-com fans will like this book and if you know anything about Bollywood, then you’ll appreciate all of the movie references and enjoy it even more.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)